Havidui Hagadol (The Great Confession)

...HAVIDUI HAGADOL THE GREAT CONFESSION) Translated by Judy Levy AMNON SHAMOSH My mother came to me each summer her eyes weary from reading her past overburdened she'd recount and relate what didn't she talk about her voice melodious as an oud her palms clarifying her bracelets tinkling gold-to-gold like the sayings she spoke undaunted by time and I was all closed ears absorbed in extricating the kibbutz from a mess pressing ahead and who (no, but really) had time for a mother a curtain between the sounds of her yesterdays and my ears attune to the din of the collective she tells of Ben Zeruiah of the attributes of amulets and I nod my head appearing to listen One summer she did not come and in the winter she was released from this world and the burdens which are part and parcel of life Spring passed summer ended and in the autumn my hand began jotting down stories I read them and discovered my mother's world a culture departed Perhaps while my ears were closed my heart lay awake perhaps the words filtered through in other ways I wanted to tell my stories to my mother I wanted to hear her tell more and more but my mother who came to me each summer (across the barrier) had been— and gone...